Obama: Rangel Should Retire

Fallout

Updated Apr. 24, 2017 6:34PM ET / Published Jul. 30, 2010 7:40PM ET

On Friday night’s CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) found a new critic: President Obama. Obama said he finds the ethics charges against Rangel “very troubling” and added that he hopes the 20-term lawmaker will step down from office with his dignity intact. “He’s somebody who’s at the end of his career,” said Obama. “I’m sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens.” While Obama praised Rangel for serving his Harlem district well, the president remains concerned about the alleged violations against him. And with good reason: Republicans plan to paint Rangel as representative of corrupt Washington, while some Democrats deny Rangel’s wrongdoing. “There’s no criminality here,” Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) told reporters.